Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

A chronological framework for the British Quaternary based on Bithynia opercula

Nature volume 476, pages 446–449 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Marine and ice-core records show that the Earth has experienced a succession of glacials and interglacials during the Quaternary (last ∼2.6 million years), although it is often difficult to correlate fragmentary terrestrial records with specific cycles. Aminostratigraphy is a method potentially able to link terrestrial sequences to the marine isotope stages (MIS) of the deep-sea record1,2. We have used new methods of extraction and analysis of amino acids, preserved within the calcitic opercula of the freshwater gastropod Bithynia, to provide the most comprehensive data set for the British Pleistocene based on a single dating technique. A total of 470 opercula from 74 sites spanning the entire Quaternary are ranked in order of relative age based on the extent of protein degradation, using aspartic acid/asparagine (Asx), glutamic acid/glutamine (Glx), serine (Ser), alanine (Ala) and valine (Val). This new aminostratigraphy is consistent with the stratigraphical relationships of stratotypes, sites with independent geochronology, biostratigraphy and terrace stratigraphy3,4,5,6. The method corroborates the existence of four interglacial stages between the Anglian (MIS 12) and the Holocene in the terrestrial succession. It establishes human occupation of Britain in most interglacial stages after MIS 15, but supports the notion of human absence during the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e)7. Suspicions that the treeless ‘optimum of the Upton Warren interstadial’ at Isleworth pre-dates MIS 3 are confirmed. This new aminostratigraphy provides a robust framework against which climatic, biostratigraphical and archaeological models can be tested.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Intra-crystalline amino acid data from the opercula of Bithynia from sites in southern Britain.
Figure 2: Amino acid decomposition at sites of known age.
Figure 3: THAA versus FAA d/l Ala for individual samples in relation to terrace stratigraphy.
Figure 4: Mean THAA versus FAA d/l Ala in relation to the occurrence of archaeology.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Miller, G. H., Hollin, J. T. & Andrews, J. T. Aminostratigraphy of UK Pleistocene deposits. Nature 281, 539–543 (1979)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bowen, D. Q., Hughes, S., Sykes, G. A. & Miller, G. H. Land-sea correlations in the Pleistocene based on isoleucine epimerization in non-marine molluscs. Nature 340, 49–51 (1989)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. von Koenigswald, W. & van Kolfschoten, T. in The early Middle Pleistocene in Europe. (ed. Turner, C. ) 211–226 (Balkema, 1996)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Schreve, D. C. Differentiation of the British late Middle Pleistocene interglacials: the evidence from mammalian biostratigraphy. Quat. Sci. Rev. 20, 1693–1705 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Keen, D. H. Towards a late Middle Pleistocene non-marine molluscan biostratigraphy for the British Isles. Quat. Sci. Rev. 20, 1657–1665 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bridgland, D. R. The record from British Quaternary river systems within the context of global fluvial archives. J. Quaternary Sci. 25, 433–446 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ashton, N. & Lewis, S. G. Deserted Britain: declining populations in the British late Middle Pleistocene. Antiquity 76, 388–396 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bridgland, D. R., Maddy, D. & Bates, M. River terrace sequences: templates for Quaternary geochronology and marine-terrestrial correlation. J. Quaternary Sci. 19, 203–218 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Penkman, K. E. H., Kaufman, D. S., Maddy, D. & Collins, M. J. Closed-system behaviour of the intra-crystalline fraction of amino acids in mollusc shells. Quaternary Geochronol. 3, 2–25 (2008)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Penkman, K. E. H. et al. Testing the aminostratigraphy of fluvial archives: the evidence from intra-crystalline proteins within freshwater shells. Quat. Sci. Rev. 26, 2958–2969 (2007)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Penkman, K. E. H., Preece, R. C., Keen, D. H. & Collins, M. J. Amino acid geochronology of the type Cromerian of West Runton, Norfolk, UK. Quaternary Int. 228, 25–37 (2010)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Sykes, G. A., Collins, M. J. & Walton, D. I. The significance of a geochemically isolated intracrystalline fraction within biominerals. Org. Geochem. 23, 1059–1065 (1995)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kaufman, D. S. & Manley, W. F. A new procedure for determining dl amino acid ratios in fossils using reverse phase liquid chromatography. Quat. Sci. Rev. 17, 987–1000 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Preece, R. C. & Penkman, K. E. H. New faunal analyses and amino acid dating of the Lower Palaeolithic site at East Farm, Barnham, Suffolk. Proc. Geol. Assoc. 116, 363–377 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Bowen, D. Q. A Revised Correlation of Quaternary Deposits in the British Isles (Geological Society of London, Special Report) (Geological Society, 1999)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  16. Bridgland, D. R. River terrace systems in north-west Europe: an archive of environmental change, uplift and early human occupation. Quat. Sci. Rev. 19, 1293–1303 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Gibbard, P. The Pleistocene History of the Lower Thames Valley (Cambridge University Press, 1994)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  18. Bridgland, D. R. Quaternary of the Thames (Chapman and Hall, 1994)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  19. Bridgland, D. R. The Middle and Upper Pleistocene sequence in the Lower Thames: a record of Milankovitch climatic fluctuation and early human occupation of southern Britain: Henry Stopes Memorial Lecture. Proc. Geol. Assoc. 117, 281–305 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Bridgland, D. R. et al. The Palaeolithic occupation of Europe as revealed by evidence from the rivers: data from IGCP 449. J. Quaternary Sci. 21, 437–455 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Maddy, D., Keen, D. H., Bridgland, D. R. & Green, C. P. A revised model for the Pleistocene development of the River Avon, Warwickshire. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 148, 473–484 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. White, T. S., Bridgland, D. R. & Howard, A. J. in The Quaternary of the Trent Valley and Adjoining Regions: Field Guide (eds White, T. S., Bridgland, D. R., Howard, A. J., & White, M. J. ) 10–23 (Quaternary Research Association, 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Boreham, S., White, T. S., Bridgland, D. R., Howard, A. J. & White, M. J. The Quaternary history of the Wash fluvial network. Proc. Geol. Assoc. 121, 393–409 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Coope, G. R. & Angus, R. B. An ecological study of a temperate interlude in the middle of the last glaciation, based on fossil Coleoptera from Isleworth, Middlesex. J. Anim. Ecol. 44, 365–391 (1975)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Maddy, D. et al. The Upper Pleistocene deposits at Cassington, near Oxford, England. J. Quaternary Sci. 13, 205–231 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Meijer, T. & Preece, R. C. A review of the occurrence of Corbicula in the Pleistocene of North-west Europe. Netherlands J. Geosci.79 241–255 (2000)

  27. Preece, R. C. et al. Biostratigraphic and aminostratigraphic constraints on the age of the Middle Pleistocene glacial succession in North Norfolk, UK. J. Quaternary Sci. 24, 557–580 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. White, M. J. & Ashton, N. Lower Palaeolithic core technology and the origins of the Levallois method in North-Western Europe. Curr. Anthropol. 44, 598–609 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Lewis, S. G., Ashton, N. & Jacobi, R. in The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (eds N. Ashton, S.G. Lewis & C. Stringer ) 125–164 (Elsevier, 2010)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Jansen, E. et al. in Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds Solomon, S. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank D. Maddy, P. Allen, N. Ashton, D. Bain, M. Bates, S. Boreham, D. Bowen, R. Briant, C. Buckingham, J. Clayden, G. R. Coope, A. Cruickshanks, P. Dark, B. Demarchi, M. Greenwood, D. Kaufman, T. van Kolfschoten, H. Langford, S. Lewis, R. Markham, D. Mayhew, H. Roe, J. Rose, D. Schreve, R. Scott, K. Scott, C. Stringer, R.Waghorne, M. Warren and F. Wenban-Smith for providing some of the material analysed and general discussion. C. Helmsley and J. Todd released material from the Natural History Museum, London, for destructive analysis. R. Allen provided technical support. G. Peeters gave permission to reproduce images of Bithynia. The analyses were funded by English Heritage, NERC and the Wellcome Trust (grant GR076905MA). This is a contribution to the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB) project funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

Author information

Author notes

  1. David H. Keen: Deceased.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Archaeology & Chemistry, BioArCh, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK

    Kirsty E. H. Penkman & Matthew J. Collins

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK

    Richard C. Preece & Tom S. White

  3. Department of Geography, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK

    David R. Bridgland

  4. Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

    David H. Keen

  5. Cainozoic Mollusca, Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity, Naturalis, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

    Tom Meijer

  6. Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK

    Simon A. Parfitt

  7. Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK

    Simon A. Parfitt

Authors
  1. Kirsty E. H. Penkman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Richard C. Preece
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David R. Bridgland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. David H. Keen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Tom Meijer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Simon A. Parfitt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Tom S. White
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Matthew J. Collins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

K.E.H.P., M.J.C., R.C.P. and D.H.K. designed the study. R.C.P., D.H.K., T.M., D.R.B., S.A.P., T.S.W. and K.E.H.P. supplied samples. K.E.H.P. undertook the analyses and processed the data. K.E.H.P., M.J.C., R.C.P. and T.S.W. wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kirsty E. H. Penkman.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Figure 1 and legend, a Supplementary Discussion on temperature estimates across the study, additional references and Supplementary Text concerning the Supplementary Data file (see separate file). (PDF 768 kb)

Supplementary Data 1-2

Supplementary Data 1/Location details together with key site information and references. This table includes additional MIS attributions that may have been reliant on either original A/I data or new IcPD data. Supplementary Data 2/Mean Ala D/L values tabulated against terrace stratigraphy for four representative river systems in southern Britain; tributary and non-fluvial sites are excluded (full data and references in Supplementary Data 1). Approximate height ranges relate to the occurrence of interglacial sediments above the modern river (taken from data given in 15,18,6,23) rather than the terrace surface (Fig. 2) Note the increasing Ala values with increasing terrace elevation (and therefore age) within each fluvial system. Terrace heights are not comparable between fluvial systems due to a variety of local factors. Within a fluvial system, terraces of differing age can overlap in height due to cut-and-fill terrace formation (see Fig. 1), so attributions in the original papers are made on the basis of geological mapping. (XLS 179 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Penkman, K., Preece, R., Bridgland, D. et al. A chronological framework for the British Quaternary based on Bithynia opercula. Nature 476, 446–449 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10305

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10305

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene